From Rags to Whites
by ashke-babe
Summary: Kaila had her world turned upside down when her parents died leaving her to fend for herself and little sister. In haven she found somewhere that they could call home. What will she do when circumstances take away everything she has worked for...
1. A Place Called Home

Kaila had her world turned upside down when her parents died leaving her to fend for herself and little sister. In haven she found somewhere that they could call home. What will she do when circumstances take away everything she has worked for to give her sister the best life she could.Only one option remains: Kaila must become a herald.

* * *

Kaila sat watching the group of young women as they walked past. They were daughters of the richer merchants. They laughed at some shared joke and one of the women turned her lip up at Kaila as she saw her sitting on the tavern steps watching them.

Kaila looked down at herself; she wore a dirty, well worn dress. If you looked really carefully you could just make-out that it had once been blue. Her once fine hands were stained and calloused. Her hair fell down into her face; with a sigh she pushed the stray strands back behind her ears. It hadn't always been like this, once she had been carefree and confident in her future as the young women just passed were. Her whole world had fallen apart when two years ago her parents had died in a bandit raid on their village. She had just turned thirteen, too young to bring in enough to support herself and her baby sister, Amari. The villagers had encouraged her to head for haven as they didn't need nor want any extra mouths to feed.

Now she was fifteen and had been living and working in _The Sword and the Mug_, for a year and a half. On the way to haven she had done whatever work she could to pay for her and her sister's passage to haven. The Sword was not the cleanest tavern but the food was decent and well priced. The owner, Lanoilyn, never laid a hand on any of the staff in fact he treated them like they were family. Other than Kaila there was also Laela, the cook, who was only a couple of years older than Kaila and Bryce, the young stable hand. When the tavern was busy everyone helped to serve.

Of everyone, Amari was Lanoilyn's favourite, though no one was jealous of the attention and gifts he gave her. Amari had become the daughter he had lost and he was the father she so dearly needed in her young life. When they had first arrived and Kaila started working, Laela had told her Lanoilyn's story. He had married a young girl whom he loved more than anything. They were married for five years and she had not fallen pregnant. Finally she had feel pregnant but fell very sick during her pregnancy. She had only enough energy left to birth her child before she died not even knowing if she had borne a boy or a girl. Lanoilyn had held her limp body in his arms until it went cold. The child, a daughter, died within two days of her mother. For years Lanoilyn had blamed himself for the death of his daughter, who died nameless. He felt that if he had let go of his grief to look after his tiny girl, she would have lived. When Kaila and Amara arrived, Lanoilyn's wife and daughter had been gone for over 5 years. Amari had been about two years old, now she was nearing four years old.

"Kai, Lano says to come inside now," said a smug voice from behind her. She turned to see Amari standing in the door way smirking, "He doesn't look very happy, what did you do?"

"Wipe that smirk off your face Mari, or I'll tell Lanoilyn to put you to work scrubbing pots." she replied as she stood up to go inside. The indignant look on Amari's face made her chuckle. She ruffled her sister's hair as she walked past her, "You coming squirt"

"I'm NOT a squirt, stop calling me that." Amari shot back as she puffed her chest up and stuck her bottom lip out. Kaila felt something tug at her awareness, she shivered and shook her head to clear the feeling. Whatever it was she'd been feeling it all day.

"Whatever,"she said to her sister, she was no longer in the mood to tease her. "I see you've got a new dress"

"Yeah, Lano said I was a big girl now and needed a big girl dress" the dress was not what Kaila would have called a 'big girl dress'. It was pink, shiny and worst of all, covered in frilly lace, it made her look like a porcelain doll.

"Well good for you, did you thank Lano for his gift?"

"Yes of course I did"

"Good, go up to our room, I'll be up soon, okay."

She stepped into the kitchen looking over to the corner where Lanoilyn was talking to Laela. She waited for a break in the conversation before clearing her throat and saying "Lano, you wanted me."

He turned to her gesturing for her join them. His face was pale and his eyes wide. In his hand was a letter. "I have to go away for a little while; I'm not sure for how long I will be gone. I know that with just three people the workload will be too much for you all and I can't afford to hire anyone else." He looked like he was about to faint, Laela steadied him then moved him to an upturned ale barrel. He sat down then motioned for Laela to continue for him.

"The only other thing we can do is close the tavern for a while and go stay with family and friends, but Lano is worried about you and Amari being alone."

Kaila nodded then bit her lip as she thought about their possibilities.

"Hmmm, when will you be leaving?"

Laela answered for him, "Lano should leave as soon as possible, maybe a day or two."

"And you don't know how long you will be away for, hmmm, well I do have a bit of money saved up but I don't know how long it will last. If you could write me a letter of reference I might be able to get a bit of work here and there until you get back"

Lanoilyn nodded, "I'll write one up tonight. Now we all better get to work, tonight looks to be a busy one"

As Kaila served the customers, she couldn't help wondering what had been in the letter that had shaken Lanoilyn so severely. She really didn't know enough about Lanoilyn's life outside the tavern to guess what it might be about. She felt the now familiar sensation of someone looking through her tugging at her awareness again. A shiver ran down her. "Hey girl, you pouring that ale?" She shook her self out of her trance. "Coming."

When she went to bed, she lay awake starring into the darkness. All the feelings she had two years ago came flooding back to her. At least this time she had more chance of supporting Amari and herself straight away. She had her savings and with the reference she could probably get a fill in job easy enough. Still she worried, what if she couldn't get a job, or somewhere to stay, or… there were so many terrible possibilities. As she felt her eyelids getting heavy she thought to herself oh well, something to worry about tomorrow, for now I need to sleep


	2. A Saviour Appeares

Kaila had her world turned upside down when her parents died leaving her to fend for herself and little sister. In haven she found somewhere that they could call home. What will she do when circumstances take away everything she has worked for to give her sister the best life she could? Only one option remains: Kaila must become a herald.

* * *

Kaila woke suddenly, as she felt something tugging at her. If she had to make a guess she'd say it was an impatient tug. Unlike the other times she'd felt this sensation, it wasn't going away. -: I must be going crazy, the strain of having to find another job and place to stay is taking its toll on me. Oh well better make the most of my sanity, who knows how long it'll last as it's not likely I'll have some Prince charming come to save me from this awful fate:-

She gently pulled Amari's arms from around her and stood up. Quickly throwing on her clothing she packed up the small collection of belongings they had. They were leaving today, all the regulars had already been notified to the closing of The Sword. It was time to tie up all the loose ends. Kaila went down to the kitchens to break her fast with Laela and Bryce, Lanoilyn and Amari usually joined them but both needed the extra sleep. What ever was forcing Lanoilyn to leave had shaken him so much, he deserved a lie in before he had to leave to face whatever it was. And Amari, she didn't know about leaving, that was why Kaila left her sleeping. Before Amari knew what was happening, Lanoilyn would be gone and they would hopefully have somewhere else to go.

"Here you go Kaila, There is a bit extra, Lano doesn't want you two to starve." Laela handed her a small money pouch. "Thanks Laela, for everything. You've been like a sister to me." She slipped the pouch into her pocket, grabbing a package of food off the kitchen counter. As she turned around to leave she saw Amari standing in the door way a confused look on her pretty young face. "Why didn't you wake me, Kai? Why would we starve? Where is Lano? Where is all our stuff from our room gone?"

"You looked very tired, Mari, I thought you would enjoy a sleep in. As for where all our stuff is, it is here" She gestured down at two small packs sitting at her feet. She smiled at Amari then started putting the packed food into one of the packs. Standing up again she held an apple. Pulling the packs onto her shoulders she closed the distance between herself and sister. "Here my sweet, eat this, quickly now."

"But Kai, I don't…" "Hush, I'll explain later, we need to get a move on, we've already wasted too much time." -:Hmmm that feeling is gone again, I didn't even notice it stopping."

Walking out the front doors of the Tavern Kaila saw a white horse on the other side of the street. It looked like one of the Heralds horses. Except there was no herald in sight. It was 'dressed' in it's finest it seemed, in His finest, she could tell it was a most definite He. He was also looking very odd, it looked like he had constipation or something. "Look at the pretty horse, Kai." "Yeah, yeah it's great, let's go." Kaila grabbed Amari's hand and started pulling her along after her down the street. About a street away she started hearing bells chiming behind her. She turned around to look behind her. A flash of white disappeared to the left behind the last corner. She narrowed her eyes but continued walking. After a moment the chiming started again. She quickly turned her head, another flash of white going towards the right.-: either I'm going crazy or there is a crazy horse following us. :-

This time she ignored the chiming and continued on looking around at the streets around her. When she finally found the right place with no where to hide behind her, she spun around quickly with hands firmly planted on her hips. The white horse stood in the middle of the road nostrils flaring, head turning from side to side looking for an escape. When he saw that he was trapped he lowed his head and started walking towards her. "Don't you even think of coming over here to apologize. What did you think you were doing following me like that." As Kaila started ranting at him he had stopped walking, now that she stopped he started edging himself toward her one tiny step at a time.

Kaila watched the horse warily, he was inching himself slowly closer to her, if she wasn't so mad she would probably of laughed at how silly he looked. He was only a foot away now. He stretched his head out towards her and looked deeply into her eyes_: I, Darin, choose you, Kaila.:_ He pushed his love for her down their link.

_:Let's go back to the collegium now so I can show you off to ALL my friends. You're going to love it you know; it's the best place in the world. And then when your finished your training we will go out into the world fighting evil, saving babies from burning buildings….. You're not listening to me are you:_

Kaila stood watching the talking horse prancing around in front of her. First he had kind of...Bounced? If that is possible, then he started prancing around in tight circle almost tripping him self up. All the while he was talking at her about…well… she wasn't too sure what he was talking about. Now he was looking ...hurt, he looked like he was going to cry. Again she thought to herself:-is that even possible?-:

_: Oh yeah, I forgot. You're new at all this too. Ok well this is how it is, you're my chosen now and we're going to go up to the collegium and your going to be trained to be a herald and then we will go out on circuit and do good for our Queen and country. Coz that's what heralds do you know, they do good, and fight evil and…lots of other things. Umm so yeah…. You ready to go now, I see you've already packed up your stuff, so you must be ready to go…You are ready aren't you:_

Kaila shook her head to try to clear it. She looked down at her sister who had taken her hand and was clinging on, staring at the horse, Darin. :- Well I guess that fixes the problem of where we can stay and a job to do, but will they accept me with Amari.:-

_: Ah, I have a sister too. Can she stay with me because she doesn't have anywhere else to go. I can't leave her, she isn't even four yet.:_

Darin looked down at Amari and snorted in surprise. He had been too caught up in choosing Kaila that he hadn't noticed the young child attached to her.

_: Umm, yeah that should be ok. Maybe she has Healing or Bardic gifts and she can study too, when she's a bit older. Can we go now? I'm getting kind of hungry and this saddle isn't the most comfortable:_ Darin started squirming under his saddle.

Kaila laughed as she tied the packs onto the side of the saddle. As she lifted Amari onto Darin's back she said to her, "Mari, This horse is going to take us up to see the other white horses. Do you want to do that?"

Amari's face lit up into a smile which took up most of her tiny face, "Yay, I love horses. "She exclaimed.

Kaila climbed onto Darin's back thinking :- And so my saviour, My prince charming did come to save me. Who would have thought that he'd be a horse:-

_:Umm, by the way, I'm not really a horse, I was just pretending to be so I could sneak up on you and choose you. I'm actually a Companion. Very different to a horses. Don't let the horse shape, oat munching and other horse like qualities fool you.:_

He turned his head to look back at her as he walked, _: Some people don't know the difference you know:_

"Look out!"

He turned his head back around, sliding to a halt just shy of knocking over a merchant's stand.

_: Thanks Kaila, did you know that Darin means Precious. I bet you didn't know that. What do your names mean:_

"Ah, Mine means Strength and Amari's is Beautiful and Gracious"

_:Ah huh, proof I chose the right person. A herald must be Strong physically, mentally and emotionally. Did you know that a companion can never choose wrong? But some of my friends said that I would probably chose wrong coz I do everything wrong, but we'll show them, won't we. And then…..:_

"Hold on a sec, you said you were only pretending to be a horse. How do you pretend to be a horse, and when were you doing that? Do you mean that up until I caught you red handed following me, you were trying to look like a horse?"

_: Yes and you didn't suspect anything at all. You didn't even look at me much when you come out of that tavern:_

"That's because I thought you were constipated. You silly horse, what am I going to do with you."

_: Companion not horse, And all I ask is that you feed me apples and sugar lumps and brush me every chance you get.:_ Darin had turned to look back at Kaila again.

"Just look where you're going, alright. Your friends will never let you live it down if you bring back a damaged chosen due to your carelessness and inattention to where you're meant to be going."

* * *

I have been told that Companion Darin is like etcetera-cat's Companion Teva. I have to agree, when i read Teva's story i felt a connection to her. If i was a companion that's what i'd be like. I am trying not to make Darin too much like Teva, but to me it seems like they were made to be together. Maybe they will have a joint story later, I'll see how i go writting this story then maybe have a chat to etcetera-cat about a joint story bringing love to two unlikely Copmanions. For all you who haven't read The stories on Companion Teva, I really reccomend you do, starting with Grass is Greener. Let me know what you think of the joint story thing and if i get enough positive feedback i'll talk to etcetera-cat.


End file.
